Photo by Phoenix Han on Unsplash
My favorite fruit has always been fresh pineapple. Yes, it's a little more work than just peeling a banana or washing a Honey Crisp apple and grabbing a bite. But it's so worth it. My favorite dessert - pineapple upsidedown cake! And my favorite thing at the Tucano's Brazilian Grille (where they serve unending marvelous skewers of all types of roasted meats) is the grilled pineapple!
I've recently been suffering from a prolonged and irritating cough from bronchitis and this prompted me to search on the internet for home remedies to relieve a cough. And I was rewarded with a recipe containing pineapple juice:
- 1 cup pineapple juice
- pinch of salt
- pinch of pepper
- 1-1/2 Tablespoons of honey
Mix together and take 1/4 cup three times a day.
my own photo
I tried it - and it did help to soothe my throat and relieve most of my irritating coughing! So I decided to do further research about the helpful qualities of pineapple.
The thing that makes it a good candidate for a cough suppressant is that it contains bromelain, which is an enzyme that helps with inflammation and also can help reduce pain. Studies have shown that it can help relieve asthma symptoms and there's another study that shows it may even have cancer-fighting properties.
Pineapple also has lots of Vitamin C for your immune system. When I think of the go-to fruit for Vitamin C, I automatically think of orange juice. But I found a research paper that studied 116 children with an acute sinus infection. One-third were given only the bromelain from pineapple juice, one-third were given nothing, and the remaining third were given a combination of pineapple juice plus the standard treatment. The results were the children given only the pineapple extraction had the fastest recovery time.
In another study 98 school children were studied for the effects of eating canned pineapple over a nine-week period. Group A received no pineapple, Group B received 140 g and Group C received 280 g for the nine weeks. Group C had a lower incidence of viral infections and less severe cases when they did occur. They also showed more than four times the white blood cells than the other two groups.
So, moms - you might want to add pineapple juice to your immune-boosting repertoire for this upcoming cold season for both you and your kids!
Some tips for buying and storing fresh pineapple:
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Pick a pineapple that smells sweet (just like pineapple juice) at its base. If it doesn't have this smell it was probably picked too early.
To store a pineapple it's best to cut the crown off and set it in the refrigerator upside down. Most of the sweetness has settled to the base and by turning it upside down you'll be distributing the flavor back through the entire pineapple.
For the most nutritional value, it's best to serve it fresh sliced.
Now, aren't you hungry for a chunk of fresh juicy pineapple?
